D.R. Horton reported an increase in new-home orders, but the rise was not as strong as some expected.

The quarterly earnings reports of big U.S. home builders on Thursday brought fresh evidence that the rapid rise in interest rates has sapped the pace of new-home orders for some, though several executives dismissed the slowdown as temporary and pointed out that home prices continue rising.

Most noteworthy to several analysts covering the industry was that D.R. Horton Inc., the largest U.S. builder by annual closings, posted a 12% increase in new orders for homes in its quarter that ended June 30, totaling 6,822 homes, when many expected a 30% gain or more. D.R. Horton, based in Fort Worth, Texas, otherwise posted a 47% increase in home-building revenue to $1.6 billion, up 47% from the same quarter a year ago, and a 15% increase in its average sales price to $252,000 in that span.

Also of note: D.R. Horton’s cancellation rate on home sales for the quarter was 24%, up from 19% in the previous quarter.

Investors were spooked by the drag that interest rates had put on D.R. Horton’s new orders, given that many of the company’s customers are first-time buyers, who are more sensitive to interest-rate changes than more established homeowners. According to Freddie Mac, the rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen to 4.31% this week from 3.59% two months ago, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke first hinted that the Fed might slow its bond-buying efforts aimed at keeping interest rates low.

Trading of D.R. Horton’s stock, closed Thursday at $19.38, down 8.6%, in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Another big home builder that reported quarterly results Thursday PulteGroup Inc., saw its stock slide 10.3% to close at $16.55 on the NYSE.

“I think most people are worried about whether there’s another shoe to fall on the demand side from this rate hike,” said Stephen East, a St. Louis-based analyst who follows home-builder stocks for ISI Group Inc. “I think July and August will be a bit weaker than the normal seasonal slowing. But if rates stay at this level, then I think the consumer will have adjusted … and get back out into the market a bit better.”

Home builder execs such as Don Tomnitz, president and chief executive of D.R. Horton, said home orders will rebound once buyers have adjusted their expectations to the higher rates.

“I don’t think there is any question that interest rates adversely affected our sales increase, which was 12% on a unit basis and 30% on a dollar basis,” Mr. Tomnitz said during the company’s conference call with analysts on Thursday. “But, nevertheless, we’re in great position right now to continue to raise prices, and there’s a shortage of homes out there. I just don’t see any negative association with that for our industry and certainly our company for the next 12 to 18 months.”

Indeed, new-home sales appeared robust in June, the latest month for which Commerce Department data is available. Such sales increased by 8.3% in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 497,000, the highest level since May 2008 and 38.1% higher than June 2012.

Even so, investors worry that home builders that do significant business with first-time buyers will suffer a slowdown as the higher rates affect the ability of those buyers to afford a home or qualify for loans. D.R. Horton said that its mortgage-lending arm originated loans for 55% of its customers last quarter, and 47% of those loans were for first-time buyers. PulteGroup said that 27% of its sales came from its Centex division, which caters to first-time buyers.

Richard J. Dugas Jr., chairman, president and CEO of PulteGroup, noted that home prices remain relatively affordable, given that they are rising from a low base established during the downturn.

“We continue to believe the recent rise in rates is likely to have only a limited impact on demand, especially if the higher rates reflect the strength in the economy,” Mr. Dugas said on PulteGroup’s conference call with analysts Thursday. “Specific to PulteGroup, we can tell you that traffic to our communities remained consistent over the quarter while cancellation rates were little changed in the period.”

PulteGroup, based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., posted home-sale revenues of $1.2 billion for its quarter ended June 30, up 19% from the same period a year ago. The average selling price of the company’s homes increased 9% in the quarter to $294,000. But PulteGroup’s new-home orders declined by 12% to 4,885 homes in the quarter.

Conversely, home-builder Ryland Group Inc., based in Westlake Village, Calif., reported Thursday that its new orders increased 56.7% in its quarter ended June 30 to 2,191 homes. Ryland CEO Larry Nicholson noted that home prices remain low despite rising rates.

“Consumer confidence, wage inflation and employment growth are just as important [as interest rates], if not more so, in determining the long-term health of our business,” Mr. Nicholson said during Ryland’s conference call with analysts. “In other words, if we had to choose between a low interest rate environment with a struggling economy and rising rates with an improving economy, we would pick the latter.”